New Yorker magazine drops Bannon as festival headliner following backlash

New Yorker magazine drops former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon as a headliner at its annual festival after several high-profile stars scheduled to participate said they would withdraw because of his appearance.

Among those who announced their withdrawal hours after the lineup was announced Monday were Jim Carrey, John Mulaney, and Judd Apatow. New Yorker staff members also tweeted their disapproval. New Yorker editor David Remnick was to have interviewed Bannon at the event.

Remnick said in a statement released later in the day that the main argument against engaging Bannon in debate is “that we are giving him a platform and that he will use it, unfiltered, to propel further the ‘ideas’ of white nationalism, racism, anti-Semitism, and illiberalism.”

But Remnick noted that an interview would not be endorsing Bannon or pulling him out of obscurity. “The point of an interview, a rigorous interview, particularly in a case like this, is to put pressure on the views of the person being questioned,” he said.

Bannon, the former editor of the right-wing media outlet Breitbart News, which he once called a “platform for the alt-right,” responded by calling Remnick “gutless.”

— JTA